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IN  MEMORIAM 

ROBERT  COLLYER 

FIRST  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
CHICAGO  LITERARY  CLUB 

BORN  DECEMBER  8,  1823 
DIED  DECEMBER  1,  1912 


CHICAGO  LITERARY  CLUB 
1913 


DEACCESSIONED  BY 

CHICAGO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

PRI^tp, "COLLECTIONS 


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7 


THIS  memorial  was  prepared  by  a 
committee  composed  of  Samuel  S. 
Greeley,  William  Eliot  Furness,  Edward 
O.  Brown,  and  Charles  Edward  Cheney, 
and  was  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Club  held 
on    Monday    evening,    January    27,   1913. 


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http://www.archive.org/details/inmemoriamrobertOOchic 


IN  MEMORIAM 

ROBERT  COLLYER 


ROBERT  CpLLYER,  first  president 
.  of  the  Chicago  Literary  Club,  was 
born  in  the  Httle  village  of  Keighley 
in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  Eng- 
land, on  December  eighth,  1823;  he  died 
in  New  York  on  December  first,  1912. 
Mr.  Collyer^s  parents  were  working 
people  of  a  type  superior  in  intelligence 
and  character.  Both  of  them  worked  in 
the  linen  mills  from  childhood  to 
marriage.  The  mother  tended  a  loom; 
the  father  was  the  blacksmith.  It  was 
the  dawn  of  the  new  industrial  day. 
New  inventions  and  new  processes  of 
manufacture  increased  the  output,  and 
stimulated  the  demand  for  labor.  The 
Napoleonic  wars  of  twenty  years  before 
had  drained  away  the  young  manhood 
of  Europe,  causing  a  scarcity  of  hands. 
Every  idle  hand  was  needed,  and  the 
burden   fell   heavily   upon   childhood. 


Little  Robert,  eight  years  old,  was  placed 
with  many  others  as  young,  in  the  mill 
to  tend  a  loom  thirteen  hours  a  day  for 
six  days  per  week,  with  two  hours  off  on 
Saturday.  At  fourteen,  deciding  to 
follow  the  trade  of  his  father,  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  blacksmith  in  a  neigh- 
boring town. 

The  family  had  their  birthright  in 
the  old  parish  church,  where  the  parents 
were  married,  and  where  the  children 
were  baptized,  but  they  usually  attended 
the  Methodist  chapel  on  the  hill. 
Neither  the  father  or  the  mother  made 
profession  of  religion. 

Robert's  official  education  was  main- 
ly limited  to  attendance  at  night  school 
for  several  winters  during  the  early  part 
of  his  apprenticeship.  His  real  mental 
and  moral  training  was  got  in  the  whole- 
some atmosphere  of  the  Yorkshire 
cottage,  in  the  stern  discipline  of  factory 
and  forge,  and  in  the  few  books  which 
his  slender  means  allowed  him  to  buy 
and  such  as  he  was  able  to  borrow. 

There  was  a  small  store  of  books  in 
the  house;  among  them  were  Bunyan's 


Pilgrim,  Robinson  Crusoe,  and  Gold- 
smith's Histories  of  Greece  and  Rome: 
These  he  almost  got  by  heart.  The  rest 
were  religious  books;  ^'they  did  not  suit 
me,*'  he  writes,  ^'so  I  let  them  hang  on 
the  shelf."  From  these  books  and  others 
loaned  or  given  by  friends,  he  drew  his 
life-long  love  for  simple  Saxon  words 
and  phrases. 

While  still  working  at  the  forge  he  was 
licensed  as  a  Methodist  local  preacher, 
and  preached,  sometimes  in  chapels, 
sometimes  in  kitchens,  in  that  region. 

In  April,  1850,  he  married  and  sailed 
with  his  wife  for  the  United  States, 
where  he  continued  to  preach  to  Meth- 
odist congregations,  supporting  his 
family  by  working  at  the  forge,  and  at 
such  other  jobs  as  offered.  The  new  land 
offered  a  wider  outlook,  and  furnished 
new  friends  who  were  not  bound  by  the 
creeds  and  conventions  of  the  churches 
he  had  known  in  the  homeland.  Asso- 
ciation with  these,  a  wider  range  of 
reading,  and  some  specially  lurid  ser- 
mons which  he  then  heard  from  a 
Methodist   preacher    brought   about   a 


change  in  his  views,  and  he  formally 
withdrew  from  the  Methodist  connec- 
tion and  affiliated  with  the  Unitarian 
church  in  Chicago,  to  become  its  ''min- 
ister at  large,"  to  oversee  its  work  for 
social  betterment. 

In  May,  1859,  he  became  pastor  of 
Unity  Church  in  Chicago,  but  he  was 
far  more  than  that.  He  was  a  recognized 
force  in  the  civic  life  of  his  adopted 
city  and  country.  When  the  civil  war 
broke  out  he  went  as  a  volunteer  nurse 
to  care  for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers 
at  Fort  Donelson  and  on  the  Potomac, 
and  he  did  efficient  service  for  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  United  States  Sanitary 
Commission.  After  the  great  Chicago 
fire  of  1871,  Mr.  Collyer  worked  actively 
with  the  Relief  and  Aid  Society  in  re- 
lieving distress  and  distributing  the  vast 
aid  fund  given  by  the  world's  charity  in 
of  the  stricken  city. 

As  might  be  expected  from  his  early 
training  in  home  and  shop,  his  theory 
of  life  was  thoroughly  democratic.  He 
loved  common  things  and  the  plain 
people:    he  found  "sermons  in  stones, 

10 


books  in  the  running  brooks,  and  good 
in  every  thing."  He  had  the  rare  power 
of  visuaHzing  persons  and  things,  and 
making  his  audience  see  them  as  he 
saw  them. 

His  genial,  helpful,  cosmopolitan 
spirit  was  felt  by  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  A  member  of  the  committee 
writes  thus:  "The  impression  which 
Mr.  Collyer  left  upon  my  memory  was 
that  of  an  unusual  largeness  of  heart, 
tender  sympathy  with  suffering,  an  es- 
pecial interest  in  young  people,  and  a 
geniality  which  drew  to  him  with  mag- 
netic attraction  the  rich  and  the  poor 
alike.  His  mind  was  singularly  poetic 
in  its  cast.  A  certain  poetic  interpre- 
tation of  everything  in  nature,  in  history 
and  in  current  events,  was  the  domina- 
ting feature  of  the  addresses  v/hich  I  had 
the  pleasure  and  privilege  of  hearing. 
Every  citizen  of  Chicago  —  no  matter 
what  his  religious,  political  or  social 
predilections  —  who  came  into  touch 
with  Mr.  Collyer,  even  in  the  most  cas- 
ual way,  could  not  help  feeling  for  him 
that  confidence  and  affection  which  a 

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big,   generous  and  loyal  nature  never 
fails  to  inspire.'' 

A  note  from  another  testifies  to  Mr. 
Collyer's  interest  in  young  men.  He 
writes:  ''My  college  classmate  and  I 
came  to  Chicago,  in  1872,  bearing  letters 
to  Mr.  Collyer  from  friends  in  New 
England.  When  we  went  to  his  house 
to  present  our  letters  he  happened  to  be 
out.  We  thought  our  letters  might  draw 
from  him  a  note  expressing  his  interest 
and  asking  us  to  call.  What  was  our 
surprise  when  on  one  of  the  hottest 
summer  days  a  week  later  Mr.  Collyer 
came  toiling  up  to  our  room  on  an  upper 
floor  to  return  our  call.  From  that  time 
till  he  left  Chicago,  we  were  both  on 
terms  of  close  acquaintance  with  him, 
and  he  was  most  helpful  in  suggestions 
morally,  intellectually  and  materially. 
Thereafter  I  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  his 
house,  where  I  met  the  most  interesting 
people  I  have  known.  My  visits  being 
generally  on  Sunday,  I  often  met  Euro- 
peans and  Orientals,  who  came  to  visit 
one  already  known  to  them  by  his 
writings.    A   noted   guest  was  Mrs. 

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Leonowens,  sometime  English  govern- 
ess at  the  court  of  Siam.  There  were 
actors,  clergymen,  authors  and  statesmen- 
groups  such  as  now  might  hardly  be 
found  assembled  except  at  Hull  House/' 

During  a  pastorate  of  twenty  years, 
Mr.  Collyer  served  his  church  and  his 
city  loyally  and  diligently;  then,  feeling 
that  a  change  was  necessary  for  himself, 
and  perhaps  desirable  for  the  church,  he 
resigned  his  charge  and  accepted  a  call 
to  the  Church  of  the  Messiah  in  New 
York,  a  charge  which  ended  only  with 
his  life. 

Mr.  Collyer  was  one  of  a  small  group 
of  men  called  in  council  by  the  original 
proponents  of  this  club,  to  assist  in  its 
organization:  he  was  elected  its  first 
president  and  remained  its  fast  friend 
and  supporter  to  the  end. 

After  his  removal  from  Chicago  he 
visited  the  club  twice  or  thrice  —  the 
last  time  on  the  special  invitation  of  the 
club.  On  these  occasions  he  addressed 
us  with  all  his  old  time  pathos  and  fervor, 
making  us  feel  that  we  were  still  the 
comrades  and  friends  of  bygone  days. 

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THE  PUBLISHERS'  PRESS,  CHICAGO 


